Man's Search for Meaning Post

"The death rate in the week between Christmas, 1944, and New Year’s, 1945, increased in camp beyond all previous experience. In his opinion, the explanation for this increase did not lie in the harder working conditions or the deterioration of our food supplies or a change of wealth or new epidemics. It was simply that the majority of the prisoners had lived in the naïve hope that they would be home again by Christmas. As the time drew near and there was no encouraging news, the prisoners lost courage and disappointment overcame them. This had a dangerous influence on their powers of resistance and a great number of them died. — p.76

In Man's Search for Meaning, Viktor Frankl, a psychologist and holocaust survivor, suggests that meaning or purpose in a person’s life can help to overcome challenges. In the passage above, Frankl tells of people in his concentration camp that found purpose for living in the hope that they would be home by Christmas. When they realized that this would not happen, they lost a purpose for living and died, proving Frankl's thesis and displaying what could happen if one does not have purpose. I agree completely agree with his thesis and it is supported by the various films and books we have been watching and reading in CAP these past few weeks and personal experiences. For example, in Shawshank Redemption, the difference between Red and Brooks during parole was purpose. As Red said, the only thing that kept him from trying to end his parole (or life like Brooks) was the promise he made to Andy and hopefully seeing him again. In Night, there was one man whose faith in God was the only thing that kept him alive (that was his purpose). Once he lost that faith, death was inevitable. Although my challenges are not a matter of life and death like those in Night and Man's Search for Meaning, Viktor Frankl's thesis still applies to me. For example, I have had a lot of social stresses being in Gifted Programs over the years; however, by finding purpose in being there (lead the way for other minority students, break societal norms, and expand my knowledge) I have been able to stay strong. Even with something as simple as completing assignments, having good grades can be a very good motivator to complete them. It is even better if it is a topic that I am interested in. This provides me with meaning in what I am doing and allows me invest more into what I am doing. In conclusion, having purpose and meaning does help a person overcome challenges; however, it can be a very dangerous thing. What motivates you could also lead to your downfall, especially if it is found to be false hope.

C-Span Documentary

Lotions or Life? from Caleb K-B on Vimeo.

Assignment Title— C-SPAN Documentary  Year— Sophomore

Skill—research, persuasion Portfolio Category— Media Communications

The C-Span documentary project really helped me in media and communications  by having me watch videos and documentaries and then creating one. In this project, groups of two or three were to make a documentary about the impact of a bill going through congress on our local community. We would then enter the video into the C-SPAN Student-Cam competition. In the beginning I was having great difficulty in finding a topic that I found interesting and in the end I joined a group with animal testing. This topic was not really my cup of tea; however, it had the making for a good documentary.

Diversity in the News

Hispanics & Latinos in the News

Assignment/Activity Title— Diversity in the News  Year— Sophomore

Skill— Research, Spanish Portfolio Category— Social Awareness

The diversity in the news project was a very eye opening project for me. In this project, we were put into groups to research minorities and how they are portrayed in the media and in the news. My group was assigned Hispanics/Latinos. Most of my prior knowledge about Hispanic culture and stereotypes is from Spanish class; however, this assignment helped me to learn bit about their culture first hand by reading Spanish Newspapers. I found this project very informative and interesting while making me socially aware.

5x5 Video

Sky 5x5 from Asha R on Vimeo.

Assignment/Activity Title— 5x5                                                        Year—Sophomore

Skill— interpretation, communication               Portfolio Category— Media and Communications

In the 5x5 assignment we were supposed to convey a theme by using 5 unedited 5 second clips. We could not add any sound effects or use any filters. We also had to use the original sound. When Mr. Mayo introduced this project, I already knew what I wanted to do. I have always been fascinated with the sky.

Independent Blog Post Quarter 1 (2014 - 2015)

Have you recently listened to Pop music ( as in popular music)? By listening, I mean listening to the lyrics as well as the sound of the music. I believe that most people including myself, do not pay enough attention to the lyrics; however, recently after actually analyzing the lyrics of many songs, I have come to a startling realization.

Inspirations play

Inspirations Play FINAL VERSION

Title - Inspirations Play   Year - Freshman 
Skills - compromise, communicating, writing, media, editing Category - Media and Communication

I believe that the inspirations play was one of the hardest projects of my freshman year. I do not say this because of the work load or research but because of the amount of compromising that had to be done. In the beginning of the project, we were asked to come up with two play ideas that inspired us. I had an idea about finding one’s self and fitting in while my other idea was about media’s hypocrisy on the issue of body image. I really liked my first idea of finding one’s self because I felt it related to me and my life experiences. That was the play that truly inspired me. However, we were then to find a group of people with similar play ideas to create a play. Nobody had my first play idea but a few people had a variation of my second idea. Throughout this process, the fact that nobody had my first choice made me want to do the first choice even more because this tied into my play of trying to fit in (and how that never seems to work out). I was disappointed.

Critical Thinking Paper

Critical Thinking Essay

Title - Critical Thinking paper   Year -  Freshman  
Skills - research, analysis, persuasion, problem solving Category - Critical Analysis

The critical thinking paper is a three year project. This requires each student to write a 4-6 page essay to support one side of a particular issue happening locally, nationally, or internationally. I decided to write an essay against the one-child policy of China. At first I thought this would be an easy thing to argue however, afterwards I realized that most of the arguments I had in mind were humanitarians. The essence of this essay was to use logic and facts to support my point of view therefore I could not use humanitarian issues as a basis of my arguments. I found this to be very hard towards the beginning of my research. I wondered to myself “what other reasons could there be to end the one-child policy?” however what I didn’t realize was that this drive to know what else there could be helped me in my research. It caused me to be more interested in what I was doing. I learned quite a few interesting things about the one-child policy such as its actual effect on the population. I also found out that the one-child policy could possibly lead to an economic crisis in China. Before this point, none of these things even occurred to me and I found these things quite interesting.